Security-Focused Blackphone Begins Shipping

Earlier this year, a smartphone by the name of the Blackphone was announced. In the wake of the Edward Snowden reports and especially for those who value their security and privacy, it seemed like a perfect device. Now earlier this month it was reported that the phone would begin shipping in the next few weeks and sure enough it has.

It has been announced that the first batch of Blackphones has begun shipping and that the next batch of orders would begin on the 14th of July via its website where it has been priced at $629. For those who are hearing about the phone for the first time, the handset is the result of a collaboration between Spanish mobile phone maker, Geeksphone, and security company Silent Circle.

While the phone runs on Android, it will be a modified version of Android that focuses on security called PrivatOS that was unveiled in January. The phone will feature constant security updates that won’t be held back by carrier approval, and will also feature encrypted telephony and messaging. There will a remote wipe feature in the event you lose the handset, along with third-party apps and services like encrypted cloud storage services, anonymized browsing, and so on.

As far as the hardware is concerned, the phone will pack a 4.7-inch display and will be powered by a quad-core processor clocked at 2GHz. It will be accompanied by 1GB of RAM and a 2,000mAh battery.